Fashion Passion!

May- the month to make hay while the sun shines. Sadly, it is much dreaded, as the temperature is touching almost up to 38 degrees which has made all the Bangaloreans sweat. The only good thing about the month May is that, it is the wedding season as well, which means lots of shopping, sing & dance rituals and of course good food! 

I have three weddings lined up- two of which are of my friends' and a cousin's wedding to attend. I am all excited and have started my preparation for the wedding with my checklist. The first on the list is the crash diet that I need to follow just so that I get that envious waistline(which eventually will expand after gorging on the delicious, mouth watering shaadi ka khana) which I could show off in a designer lehenga.  

The next on list is the beauty salon routine. Head to toe pampering is a must before attending a wedding to have a glow brighter than the bride.

Next on the checklist is shopping, lots of shopping and more shopping.

The two weddings of my friends' will have several of my common friends attending which means no repetition of clothing! And the third wedding which is of my cousin, I would still have to buy new clothes as my pictures of the previous two weddings will be all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. No way can I be seen in the same dresses again! This also means my pocket is up for a huge hole to be drilled.

Shopping turned out to be a roadblock for me. After all the salon regime, I could not dare step out in the sun for shopping despite applying liberal amounts of sunscreen all over. This is where the Myntra Mobile app has come as a boon to people like me. Initially, I was a little hesitant about online shopping as I am the girl who gets high by stepping out to visit several showrooms and trying several clothes. Sadly, this summer has been too bad and I really cannot step out which is then, I tried out the Myntra Mobile app and wow! I am in love!

The Myntra mobile app is perfect for all the fashionistas, who do not have the time or who do not like going out in the summer just like me. Through this app, I am able to pick amazing new collections,  matching sandals & accessories all of that by just sitting at home or at work ;) or while traveling too. It is so much fun. This app has made me (h)appy because it is not just convenient, it also saves you money as there is app only discounts on certain merchandise. With this extra money I get to buy cosmetics too ;)

As much as I love this app there are some pros & cons to it as well.

Pros:

1. I hate shopping alone so I've always had to cajole either my friend or sister to join me which meant I had to adhere to their availability. But with this app, you can ditch all of them and shop at your convenience. Now, the tables have turned & I am cajoling them into using the app just so that they don't interrupt my Myntra app shopping ;).
2. Myntra mobile app helps you save several rounds to beauty salons as the skin remains healthy without any pollution/sun damage.
3. The Myntra mobile app appoints a personal assistant at your finger tips as the app suggests on how to put products together to create a complete look. How cool is that?! It is perfect for people who get confused with the variety while shopping. Technically, Myntra app gives you variety and clarity.
4. What more? Say bye bye to the long queues at the changing rooms and also after the recent incidents of cameras in the change room, this app would seem perfect to keep yourself away from such prying eyes.

Cons:

The only con would be that you might face RSI (Repetitive strain injury)due to excessive usage of your fingers for scrolling & shopping :D #giggles

No wonder, Myntra has decided to shut its website and turn into an app-only e-tailer. No surprise there! India is the second largest smart phone market globally and is expected to grow over 650 million in the next four years. It makes complete sense to go app- only, considering the smart phone wave in India. After all, phones are personal and this app is there to give you a personalized shopping experience as well. Overall, #itspersonal!

Guide to add Google Analytics tracking code to your Blog

Google analytic is the free web analytics service from Google which would help in tracking, monitoring the traffic to our websites. It is a blessing in disguise for me!

I am a rookie into this blogging world and of course as a beginner would be glad to share my experience in setting up my blog. I had wasted a lot of time to insert the tracking code generated into my blog.

So I would like to show few simple steps to get started:

Process 1: To generate the tracking code

Step 1: Log in to google.com/analytics
Step 2: Click on the "Access Google Analytics"
Step 3: Sign in to your google account which you already have else create one.
Step 4: Click sign up for Google Analytics- upon clicking, you will be asked few basic questions-   Account Name, Website Name, Website URL.
Step 5: Scroll down to the bottom of the page & click on get tracking ID

Voila! the tracking ID along with the code is generated.

Process 2: To add the tracking ID to the blog

This process actually flummoxed me as I have not worked with codes et al. And all the help guides like this  mentioned the need to copy the tracking code and paste it just before </head>.

However, there's a simple alternative for a rookie like me.

Step 1: Copy the tracking ID (alpha numeric characters)
Step 2: Login to your blogging account and look for the settings tab on the left side
Step 3: Scroll down and there's Analytics Web property ID where the ID needs to be pasted.
Step 4: Click save & finish

The other manual process is not hard either.

Step 1: Copy the tracking code found just below the tracking ID from <script> to </script>.
Step 2: Login to your blog
Step 3: Click on the Template tab & select 'Edit HTML'
Step 4: Look for </head>  tag and paste the code just before it.
Step 5: Click Save & finish

Stranger that I used to know!

I have always had an inclination for short poems but had never attempted to write one myself. This is my first simple fictional poem that I have penned. Hoping to write few more.

So my tryst with poems begins here.

On a Thursday, when the sky was clear

I felt like a new day has come here

Soon, the day shifted the gear

As a tall man approached to come near

I had difficulty in breathing I swear!

Thankfully, it was my Uncle dear

Not soon enough, I was drowned in fear

He touched me there, he touched me here

As I was left in despair!

India's Daughter!

I believe by now, everybody knows what happened on 16th December 2012. It put India on the world map. The entire nation was jolted to the ghastly news of the rape of an Indian daughter which was by far the most brutal one.  It has been 2 years since and the culprits are still alive while the daughter is far from dead. Still, nothing has changed. There has been several rape cases after that still, nothing has changed.

Now, an English channel BBC has come up with a documentary on the incident and we hear hue and cry over it. The excerpts of the documentary mentioned here gave me goosebumps. The crime committed is heinous enough and the monsters (if there is any more evil word than that) blame the girl itself showing no remorse. That is the ugly truth let's face it.

Instead of fighting the society evil which is the patriarchy mindset of the majority of the Indians, here we are fighting over the ban of the film which mirrors our society. What are we trying to do here? Trying to stick our head in the sand thinking if we can't see nobody else will see? Why are we shying away from facing the blatant truth?

We have arguments saying they have glorified the rapist, an English channel is trying to malign India, accusing the BBC of subverting Indian judicial system. By banning the channel, we are just cheating ourselves. We all know, the truth is, the documentary which showcases the regressive culture of India. I am aware that there would be few of the "educated" men too who hold the same ideology as the rapists. Like Javed Akhter rightly said, there should be no ban as it sends out a message to such men that they hold the same view of that of a rapist!

Instead of fighting over the film we should be tackling the issue from the grass root level by trying to change the mindset of all those misogynist Indians. If we think the west has tried to portray India in a poor way, then let's try to change it. Only when there is gender equality, mutual respect will there be no such atrocities and there will be no English channel trying to show us in poor light.

Movie Telling ;D: Khoobsurat

I happened to watch the movie Khoobsurat recently and I just loved it for numerous reasons.
Reason 1: It is a complete chick flick.
Reason 2: It is simple yet entertaining
Reason 3: The hero(Fawad) is Super-Handsome
Reason 4: Sonam's quirky and colorful clothes

Ok, the plot is very simple, nothing out of the box; but since it was co-produced by the Disney Pictures it had a dreamy, fairy tale kind of feel. I just went back to the Cinderella, Snow white and 7 dwarfs' era. Also, it is very modern too... totally this era with Sonam taking numerous selfies in every place possible.

Well, the story goes like this (No spoiler alerts! coz the movie is very simple and me revealing the story would not do much damage). There's this Mili Chakravarthy, a physio with a loud mouthed punjabi mother played by Kiron Kher who fits into the role to the T. She has done a great job like in any other movies (read Dostana). So, one day Dr. Mili (who calls her mommy by her name, Manju) gets an opportunity to serve the King of a royal family. So, that is when the whole story begins...The royal family has the King with a medical condition due to which he is wheel chair ridden, the uptight, highly disciplined queen, a handsome prince engaged to be married and a princess who wished to break free and pursue arts.

Among st this royal family is the very own misfit, middle class, clumsy, goofy Dr. Mili (which reminded me of Princess Dairies) who keeps irking the queen with her care free, I-Don't-care-a-damn antics. And the king has huge guilt pangs of his older son's death due to which he resists Mili's treatment. Obviously, Mili being the high spirited girl wins his heart along with the housekeeping staffs' as well. Oh! she wins the heart of the royal daughter and in fact inspires her to follow her acting dreams.

Initially, the prince is annoyed with her over zealous attitude but eventually falls for her and yes! they kiss which brings about a sense of awkwardness between them. Mili hides her true feelings initially considering he is engaged to be married and their life goes on until one day, when the royal daughter decides to flee from house to attend an audition. This creates a huge ruckus at the palace; Mili bears the brunt and she's asked to pack her bags.

There is a twist if you could call that..daughter returns, Kings resumes to walk, prince realizes his true feelings for Mili, Queen realizes her mistake of rebuking Mili and asks the prince to follow Mili to her home.

Finally, they meet, eat and they live happily ever after!

So, that's the magical fairy tale for you.

The logic, sci-fi, horror genre loyalists would not like it. But I thoroughly enjoyed it for, it is not a heavy duty movie :).

On the Platter- Paneer Chilly(Dry)

I had decided I would blog regularly; at least 3 posts a month. Sadly, the cooking bug stung me and of late I have grown a special interest for cooking. I can't believe that myself. I generally eat, slurp and Burp but I thought let me try the full cycle which is cook, heat, eat, slurp and burp! I like to believe I have decent culinary skills capable of dishing out edible stuff.So, my tryst with cooking started with Paneer Chilly, which in the end looked like this. Looks Yummy no? Tasted yummy too :D

Okay I would be sharing my magic recipe right here. So let's get it started.

Ingredients:
Paneer (cottage cheese)- 250 gm (Well, it depends how hungry you are!)
Oil to deep fry
Cornflour 3 tablespoons
Garlic crushed
1 medium Onion thickly sliced
Green capsicums thickly sliced (You could add few sliced bell peppers too the yellow and the red ones)
Green chilly- 6-8 sliced
Salt to taste
Soy sauce

Procedure:

•  Take the oil in a frying pan and heat it.
• Cut the paneer into cubes of medium size and roll them on cornflour and deep fry until the edges          turn brown, drain them and leave it on an absorbent paper to take off excess oil.
•  On a different wok, take some oil heat it and add garlic and saute.
•  Add the veggies, green chilies and stir fry. Meanwhile, with about a table spoon of cornflour                make a solution by adding half cup water.
•  Once the veggies are cooked add salt, soy sauce and mix well. Add the fried paneer cubes and          mix well.
•  Now, add the cornflour mixture and cook it on high flame. Keep it on until it becomes a thick paste. 
•  Once it thickens, turn off the gas do the necessary garnishing if you wish to, else pounce on it  immediately :P

It is easy breezy to make and you have a happy tummy at the end of it :)

Newton's Third law :)

Newton's third law of motion says "For every action there is equal and opposite reaction". This was one of the easiest law in physics (which is why I remember! :P). I somehow find its relevance in our lives too. For every action of yours there is an opposite reaction you receive. Don't seem to get it huh?

Okay, consider this ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos that is doing the rounds on social media (one more post on social media eh?). While everyone is up for it and busy looking up what is ALS?and what the whole frenzy is about, there is a separate group of people sulking..oh well maybe not! 'Cos they are infuriated and aghast with the whole concept of downing oneself in a bucket of ice water. Why? Because people are wasting water! Damn!

Suddenly these natural resource conserving people have woken up from their deep slumber and started to rant about it all over. Having said that, I do not encourage wastage of water or any other resource for that matter either. But the point here is, the entire challenge was to raise awareness of  ALS and they have succeeded in it and how! Frankly, how many of us knew about Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)? 
Due to this entire challenge, apparently they were able to raise about $30+ million and counting.

It is for a good cause so let's not dilute the message and digress from the issue by talking about scarcity of water etc. Yes, I understand these are some of the pressing issues but let us not forget what the campaign has achieved. I believe it is a brilliant campaign and has been able to do just that, spread awareness about ALS! People don't seem to realize the very fact people are discussing, participating is due to the campaign else ALS would have been one of the rare diseases unheard of but found in medical books.

There is always a trade off so let's just embrace the idea and donate towards ALS.

So down that bucket of water but also turn off the taps when not being used and boycott shower and use the bucket to bathe every morning. That way, we would be showing sensitivity towards humanity and also saving our resources!

Cheers!